Released the first international book on migrant health

During theannual conference for general practitioners, WONCA Europe Conference 2019, in Bratislava, Esperanza Diaz signed her newly published book: Migrant Health: A Primary Care Perspective. It was the one and only book presentation at the conference attended by around 2000 doctors from all over the world.

The book contains practical tips to deal with cultural differences between the general practitioner in primary health care and patients with migrant backgrounds.

Esperanza Diaz

Useful tips for doctors

The contract for writing the book was drawn up three years ago with the publisher Taylor and Francis Group. They were interested because there was no such book on the market. It is organized in age groups from migrant children to elderly migrants and addresses the different challenges doctors can meet in these different age groups. The book also contains concrete tips for the interactions with migrants.

“Imagine a dementia test where you are asked to count downwards from 100 to 0. This is not easy if you do not know the language and the numbers very well. You can easily end up being mislabeled as a person with dementia, even if you are not,” Diaz points out.

“Instead you could do the test by answering questions such as, what you bought in the shop, to avoid cultural hindrances.”

Esperanza Diaz signing her new book, Migrant Health: A Primary Care Perspective, at a stand in Bratislava.

Can be used in education

The book, containing practical tips to deal with cultural differences between the general practitioner in primary health care and patients with migrant backgrounds, is also suitable for other health personnel and students.

“It is a practical book, based on experiences with migrants, but it is also based on research. Therefore it is suitable for education and training purposes,” says Esperanza Diaz.

Diaz will use the book forher next year’s courses in migrant health at the University of Bergen.